Everywhere She Goes
by EmW05
Summary: Brooke Davis has been gone for over five years and had every intention in the world to stay gone. Until her best friend and love interest decides that the one thing he needs is to go home. He makes a deal with Brooke that if she goes to Tree Hill for a
1. I Could Stay Away Forever

**Everywhere She Goes**

_Chapter One  
I Could Stay Away Forever_

It was finally the day when everything was coming together. She could feel it. She could just tell. She had been waiting for this moment ever since she realized something was missing. The pieces of the puzzle were finally coming together. Her life, so far, had been one of those thousand piece three dimensional puzzles, one of those thousand piece puzzles where only one piece was missing. You could have every piece to every puzzle in the world, but when you only need one piece, that last piece to that puzzle you have been working on for twenty three years, it doesn't matter. Nothing matters but the missing piece.

It was finally the day when everything was coming together. Her missing piece walked through the door, into her office and sat down across from her. He nervously leaned forward in the seat where her clients sat everyday. Suddenly, she was nervous. She felt sick to her stomach as she watched him fiddle with something in his coat pocket. In her mere twenty three years she had never felt this nervous, sickening feeling in her gut. He leaned even closer to her, now nearly off his seat. She did the same, mimicking him as he pulled his hand out of the pocket. Then it happened. There it was their future sitting in a little black box on her desk. She moved her hand toward the box and slowly looked up at him.

His eyes had aged since the last time she had seen him. The five and a half years between them now seemed evident. The crow's feet narrowing out his eyes seemed to almost walk across his face toward the edges of his mouth. She never remembered him looking like this before. It was almost as if over night everything about him had changed. He had gone from that high school senior basketball player who she had pined over for so long, to this twenty eight, almost twenty nine, year old… old man.

She ran her hands over top of the black box and then looked up at him. Then the box disappeared. Her imagination had led herastray again, as it did from time to time when it came to Leo. Her emerald green doe eyes looked into his baby blue aged eyes and then down at the navy polo shirt she had bought him two years ago on their weekend trip to Hampton, Virgina. She remembered it perfectly, just like in the movies.

_I rolled down the window of his car and put my left arm out the window. I do this from time to time, but only when the weather is like this. I pay no attention to the road and just gaze out the window. So many things pass you by when you don't pay attention. The leaves had just started changing colors. This meant I was almost 21. That meant Leo would be twenty six soon. Even if I didn't pay a bit of attention to the months or the days, as soon as the first yellow leaf fell from the sycamore in the middle of the yard of my child hood home I knew it was almost my birthday. And if it was almost my birthday, then it was also almost Leo's birthday. This was the year, he said, he would start going by Leonard. He told me "Brooke, it just sounds better… it just sounds more official, more important, like I know what is going on in the world." I would then lean close to him and tell him, "Baby, it is going to take more than a name change for that to happen." _

_Deep down, all any of us want is to be more official or more important sounding. That's why I was so excited when I was finally a senior at the University of New Haven. I was suddenly more…everything. I only wish you could sense the sarcasm oozing from my voice. I don't even know why I ended up going to that school being from Tree Hill, North Carolina. No one understood. I didn't understand. I remember during my senior year at Carolina Davis Academy- don't worry that school will be discussed later on since it made me who I am today-again it is a shame you cannot sense the sarcasm- everyone would say, "Brooke Davis! Where are you going to school?" I would reply, "University of New Haven in Connecticut." Suddenly the color would drip from everyone's faces, "Connecticut you say?" Hmm, interesting choice." All I could do was nod because I didn't disagree._

_Part of me thinks I went there because I knew, deep down, that there was something waiting on me in Connecticut, like Leo. I didn't even know he was there until we ran into one another at a party the first week I was in college, or at least I pretended like I didn't know he was there. I would put on this façade, pretending I had no idea Leo Johansson was a fifth or sixth, or something along those lines, senior at New Haven. People in Tree Hill would always ask me, right after they asked me where I would be attending college and said "hmm, interesting choice", "Do you know Leo Johansson? I believe he was a couple years older than you. Well, anyways, he goes to New Haven". I would casually nod my head and say, "Yeah, I think the name sounds familiar." When in reality, my brain was screaming, "Are you kidding? The Leo Johansson? Of course I know him!"_

_My daydreaming was interrupted by the incessant screeching of Leo, "Brooke! This is important. Do I take 1-64? Is that right? Exit 75? Toward Norfolk? But we are just trying to get to Hampton. Is there going to be a sign for th-…"_

_At first I thought "incessant screeching" was a bit of an exaggeration, but after listening to him repeat the same question more than enough times, I came to the conclusion that my prior description was nothing short of precise. I looked at him and took a long, deep, calming breath and said, "Yes. You are correct." I looked down at the directions I had printed out at my apartment earlier in the day. I read directly from the paper, "Merge on to I-64 East via Exit 75 toward RIC Airport, Williamsburg, and Norfolk." Looking up at him, smiled and watched him slowly turn the wheel. "No need to stress. We are going for a weekend get away." I put my hand on his shoulder, "You need it."_

_He nodded, his shaggy brown hair swaying. "You are telling me." He fiddled with the radio station until finally deciding his efforts were completely unsuccessful. Leo ran his fingers through his hair, letting his hand rest on the back of his neck. He took at deep breath and slowly let it out. Turning his head toward me he said, "I came to a conclusion last night." I said nothing. "Wanna hear it?"_

_I pealed my eyes open and nodded my head, "This better be good," I said scratching my head through my chestnut brown hair. "Okay, go ahead, shock me." I smiled, my white teeth glistening in the last summer sun._

_Leo rolled his eyes at me and crossed his arms over his chest. I immediately grabbed the steering wheel. He knew that made me nervous and that's why he did it. Typical male. "Fine, if you are going to be like that, then I am not going to share my profound statement with you. I don't want to waste your time Miss Brooke Penelope Davis, Queen of Shiba, Goddess of Greatness, Owner of Tree Hill…"_

"_Yeah, whatever, Leo just get on with the story. I would love to know what your insightful idea is. I am sure I will find it extremely enlightening."_

_He pouted for a moment and then began speaking. "I got to thinking last night-" He glared at me, thinking that I would say something about him thinking and how he shouldn't do that too often. I shook my head, letting him know that I was totally listening, no comments from the peanut gallery today. "So, I got to thinking last night and I realized something," He looked up at me. My heart started pounding. I felt like it was about to jump out of my chest. I looked down; making sure that my heart was in fact still in tact. I flipped down the visor in Leo's 2002 Ford Explorer and ran my hands through my dark mop. Looking over at him causually I noticed he was watching my every move._

"_Yeah…" I chewed on my bottom lip until I could taste the blood on my tounge. He stared at me, raising his left eyebrow. I shook my head at him. "No, okay, yeah, what?"_

_Leo nodded his head, "Okay, so…" He blinked his light blue eyes quickly and ran his tounge across his teeth. "I came to the conclusion that…"_

_He paused, letting the question mark between us linger for barely over ten seconds, but that ten seconds lasted far too long. I knew exactly what I wanted him to say. I hope that the words, "Brooke I want to be with you" or "Brookie for the longest time I have been head over heals in love with you and I think that it is time that we do something about it". Then I would fall into his strong high school basketball player arms and say, "Leo! I have been waiting for this moment since I was in middle school. I love you too! Let's be together!" I laughed to myself and let out one, long sigh. _

"_Brooke…"_

_Oh god, here it comes._

"_I for the longest time…"_

_It is really doing to happen. All I ever wanted was about to be mine, I didn't know what to do. I looked awful. My make up looked like I had slept in it and my hair looked even worse, I ran my hands over my hair and down my shoulders. I wish I looked good. This was a huge moment in my life and I looked possibly the worst I had ever looked in my entire life. I took one, long, deep breath and looked at him._

"…_I have been head over heals in love…"_

_Oh, my gosh, it really was about to happen. All those nights I spent laying in my bed, eating Ben and Jerry's dreaming about being with Leo was going to come true. I put my hand on his arm and smiled, "I feel the exact same way."_

"_That is great!" Leo said, extactily, as he threw his arms in the air. I quickly grabbed the steering wheel. "I can't believe you think I need to switch jobs too."_

_I never knew it was possible to feel the color drain from your face, but at that moment in time, I realized that you could. "Definitely." I smiled, "I definitely think that it is time for you to switch jobs."_

"_Awesome. Perfect. Yes." He smiled and moved his hand toward the radio, turning it up, letting an old Oasis song, "Wonderwall", play throughout the car._

"_Today is gonna be the day that they're gonna throw it back to you. By now you should have some how realized what you've got to do. I don't believe that anybody feels the way I do about you now…"_

"You are looking old today, Leo." Brooke said as she folded her arms across her chest and leaned back in her desk chair. She spun the chair around to look out over the city of Richmond. The sun would be setting in about an hour and she had planned to walk her dog down to the river and watch the sunset. By the looks of Leo, it didn't appear that she and Raven, her two year old Maltisse, would be doing that tonight.

Leo smirked at her and stood up. He paced across the room, mumbling something under his breath. The only words Brooke could decipher were "damn" and "shit". As he ran his fingers across her picture frames he said, abruptly, "I am moving back to Tree Hill."

The chair spun back around. Suddenly missing the sunset was the last thing on Brooke's mind. She quickly stood up from her desk and said, "What? Excuse me?" She laughed quietly to herself, "It sounded like you said you are moving back to Tree Hill, but the Leo Johansson that I know and love would never, ever say something like that."

Brooke watched Leo dig his hands deep into his pockets and then pull them back out to rest them on the back of a wooden chair. "I know. And I would never go back but-"

"But what?" Brooke said, as she turned around and stared out the large window.

"It is just, I have been here for ten years and… I don't know. Do you ever feel like something is missing?"

She smiled at his comment knowing that he had no idea what it was to feel like something in your life was missing. Brooke wished she could tell him that yes, she knew what it felt like. She knew because he was the one thing missing in her life. He was her missing puzzle piece. But Brooke pushed all of those things back and just nodded her head.

"I need to go back, Brooke, I just need to." The room was silent for much more than a moment. Brooke couldn't bear to break the silence knowing that if she did, her voice would be weak and filled with emotion. Finally, after moments upon moments, Leo broke the silence "I want you to come with me."

In shock, Brooke said, "No, there is no way." Her voice was, just as she expected, filled with emotion. "I can't. No."

Leo walked close to her and put his hand on her arm, "Please, Brooke, please. I need you to do this for me."

She shook her head, "No, I can't." She threw her arms in the air and motion toward her office. "I have this," She crossed her arms, "What would I do with this?"

"Take a vacation."

"That will last a lifetime? You're insane."

He tilted his head and said, "No, just go to Tree Hill with me for a week, just to help me get on my feet. Then after the week is done," Leo smiled at her, "So are you."

"I don't know, Leo. This is crazy." Brooke couldn't stop shaking her head. "Have you lost your mind?"

"Maybe," He said as he shrugged his shoulders, "I think home is the only place I can go to find it."

Brooke closed her eyes tight and continued to shake her head, "Fine." She opened her eyes to look at him, "But under one condition." Leo nodded his head and she continued, "After a week, seven days," She held up her fingers, "I am done. Deal?"

"Deal." Leo wrapped his arms around her and she breathed him in. "Thank you Brooke. I love you for this."

As Brooke nodded her head and put her arms around his waist, she knew immediately that she had just made a life altering decision. She knew today was going to be the day everything changed. She had no idea.


	2. Is There A Way Out

Chapter Two  
Is There A Way Out

_He looked across the crowded gym. The gym was packed and everyone was watching him. Tonight was the night he would score his two thousandth point. Everyone was just waiting for him to cross into prodigy status or fall into the category of those who just couldn't measure up. Nathan felt like he was going to be more of the second. The words "you can't do it", "you aren't me", "you will never be me" kept playing over and over again in his mind. He felt that orange leather ball in his hands and he squeezed it tight. He dribbled it down the court until his feet met with the three point line. He had been firing them all night; this time wasn't going to be any different. He put it up, and down it fell, through the net for three more points. That was his two thousandth. He looked up his father, Dan Scott, and then at the scoreboard and watched the numbers next to 23 change to 29. Nathan smiled at it. He loved this game almost more than he loved beating his dad._

Brooke ran her hands across the front of her cheerleading uniform. She let her fingers run over the letters, CDA. Brooke knew the only reason she was a cheerleader was because that is what was expected of her. Her mother was a cheerleader, her dad was basketball player and her grandparents were the ones who opened her school, hence the name Carolina Davis Academy. It was a gift. It was a curse.

She gripped her maroon and gold pompons tightly in her hands and dug her fists into her hips. She smiled a bright smile and looked out and through the crowded gym. The Raven gymnasium's air condition was more than lacking and Brooke was drenched in sweat. She felt sorry for the basketball players who were actually doing some sort of workout knowing that if she were this hot, then they must be near death.

For a moment everything seemed to move in slow motion. Tree Hill's Coach Durham called a time out and the team congregated around him. Lucas Scott, Tree Hill's second highest scorer on and off the court, slowly turned his head to glance at Brooke. She tossed her pompons down and began a cheer, "Here we go Cougars, here we go…" The corners of Lucas lips turned up when her eyes met his. Brooke narrowed her eyes at him and turned back toward the crowd. Disheartened, Lucas took the ball back out and stood near Brooke on the sidelines. They both kept their eyes on the referee.

As Brooke bent down to pick the poms back up, Lucas said, "I saw you looking at me. I don't want to get you too excited."

Rolling her eyes, Brooke said, "Don't worry, you never did." She narrowed her eyes at him and gave him a cunning smile.

Nathan Scott, Lucas's younger, half brother and the leading scorer, overheard Brooke's catty comment and smirked at her. He smiled at Brooke and she winked back.

"You better focus on the game and not the sidelines if you want to live to see the end of this game." Lucas said, passing the ball hard to his brother.

Nathan caught the ball and shot it from two feet behind the three point line. "Maybe I should just tell you to step up your game. Or wait…" Nathan pointed up to the scoreboard showing how many points each player had earned, "Maybe this is the best you can do." Nathan had 32. Lucas had 12. Nathan stared at Brooke all the way down the court.

Peyton Sawyer, Brooke's all time best friend and "wingwoman", nudged her, saying, "Leave it up to you to get caught between the two people who hate each other more than… well, there really isn't even anyone to compare them too."

"Hopefully soon I can compare them in other ways," Brooke put her arm through Peyton's, "If you know what I mean."

"Yes," Peyton laughed at pushed her away, "I know what you mean."

The two girls looked back to the court just in time to see Lucas sink the last basket. Brooke and Peyton jumped into each others arms and stormed the court. Lucas walked up to Brooke and put his hand on her back. He leaned close to her and whispered into her ear, "See you after the locker room." He pulled away and kissed Brooke on the cheek. She immediately wiped the kiss off of her cheek.

Brooke watched Nathan from across the gym. She ran over to meet him before he got into the locker room. Brooke was notorious for her locker room shenanigans but not tonight. She put her hand on Nathan's chest and stood on her tiptoes, whispering into his ear, "See you at the beach house?" Nathan nodded and Brooke walked away. She turned around to him. "Good game by the way." She gave him a dimpled grin and walked toward Peyton. The girls put their arms around each other and Peyton said, "You are so bad."

Brooke raised her eyebrow and smiled at her best friend, "I know." She glanced over her shoulder, looking at the two brothers, "I love it."  


US 74 toward Tree Hill. The sign came and passed. She ran her hands over her bare arms and tapped her foot to the rhythm of her racing heartbeat. After becoming bored with the tapping of her foot, she drummed her fingers on the armrest. Leo put his hand atop hers and looked at her. His knowing eyes seemed to calm her down for a moment. Until the moment Brooke saw the sign saying, "Welcome to Tree Hill." She buried her head into her hands and began shaking her head, "What a mistake." She mumbled into her hands.

Leo put his hand on her back and moved it slowly up and down. "Listen Brooke, I really don't think you have anything to worry about. I mean honestly how much could this little town have changed in five years?"

She glanced out the window as the car passed the Saint Augustine Catholic Cemetery. "Stop the car." She said calmly. The car kept going. "Stop the car!" Brooke exclaimed, as she opened the car door and jumped out before the car had completely stopped moving.

Leo pulled the car over and watched her run through the cemetery. She tripped over a fallen headstone. Brooke began sobbing and laid her head on the wet grass. She ran her hands over the headstone, which appeared to have been beaten down with a baseball bat or something else along those lines.

"Brooke? Are you okay?" Leo said to her, as he put his hand on her back.

She glanced back down at the headstone and her tears fell from her eyes to the stone, "How could someone do this?" Sobbing she said, "How can people do this to them?" Her words were almost inaudible, "They never did anything to anyone." Brooke laid her head down onto the granite headstone.

"Whose grave is this Brooke?" Leo asked as he ran his fingers through her hair.

Brooke lifted her head and Leo looked at the name on the headstone. Phillip and Margaret Davis. It was Brooke's parents.

Leo didn't know what to say. He took Brooke's arm and pulled her up, "Come on."

She looked up at him, "I never got to say goodbye," She forced out through tears. "I didn't even get to say goodbye."

Leo nodded and put his arm around Brooke's waist. She looked up at him and smiled. The two heard muffled footsteps behind them, but chose to ignore them and continued walking back to the car. The footsteps came closer and seemed to stop at the gravesite of Brooke's parents. Brooke glanced over her shoulder and noticed at figure kneeled down at the grave. She smiled at the sight and continued to the car.

The figure stood up and watched the pair get into the car. He watched the familiar looking girl close the door and roll down the window. He blinked hard and called out to her, "Brooke!" The car began to drive away. He called again, "Brooke Davis! Wait! Stop!"

Brooke stuck her head out the window looked at the man and then turned to Leo. "Stop." She jumped out of the car and stood barefoot in the dewy grass. The two were about 40 feet from one another. The man was all too familiar looking. It was someone she had hoped not to see for so long. It was the man who broke her heart in a way her heart had never been broken before. "Nathan."

"Br..Brooke." He couldn't even form words. He hadn't seen her since the accident and he was almost one hundred percent sure that Brooke was hoping to keep it that way. Nathan couldn't remember everything about that night and he imagined that was probably a good thing. He didn't know if it was from a defense mechanism in his mind or from the impact of the crash. Whatever the lapse in memory was from, he knew it was for the better.

By the look on Brooke's face, he knew she remembered everything. All she had to do to remember was look at the headstone with the name, Davis, inscribed

Slowly, her eyes filled with tears. Nathan opened his mouth, but Brooke wouldn't have it. "No," She said as she put her hand up, as if to stop the words from reaching her ears, "I don't want to hear anything."

Leo emerged from the car and walked toward Brooke. He put his hand on her shoulder. Her eyes didn't leave connection with Nathan's. "Come on." Leo said as she pulled Brooke back to the car. Her eyes remained on Nathan's. Nathan dropped the flowers in his hands, peach roses with red tips, to the ground and watched the car drive away.

"Those were you favorite." Leo said as he put his hand atop Brooke's. She looked at him, confused. "Those flowers."

"Peach roses with red tips…" She looked out the window and back at Nathan standing in the cemetery alone. "Those were my favorite."

Nathan stared at the explorer as it drove away and said, "I'm sorry." He looked down at the ground, "I will make it up to you, I promise."


	3. Headlights on Dark Roads

Chapter 3  
Headlight on Dark Roads

_It was one of those nights on the shore of Wrights Beach where the air temperature and the water temperature are so different that a layer of fog rises over the ocean water. The water was calm that night. Haley James dug her feet into the sand and crossed her arms over her chest. She caught herself smiling at the peaceful, serene night sky. "The calm before the storm," She said to herself as she ran her hands over the cool, white sand._

_The front door of the Scott beach house, "Hello Tree Hill High Ravens!" Brooke screeched from the entrance, "Congratulations on the win, but my motto is 'its not whether you win or lose, its how drunk you are at the end of the night'. Am I right?" Bevin Maskey, the head cheerleader of the Tree Hill Ravens, intertwined her arm with Brooke's. _

"_So I smell you have already been drinking," Bevin lined up four shots in front of herself, and then Brooke, "But I say we keep going." Bevin winked at her, "What do you say?"_

_Brooke smiled and put her hand on the first shot glass. She clicked her glass with Bevin's, "I say bottoms up."_

"_You and me, friends we shall ever be, if we shall ever disagree," Bevin raised her eyebrow at Brooke, "Fuck you, here's to me."_

_Nathan stood at the end of the island table in the kitchen and watched to two girls down the shots of whiskey like they were water. He held a bottle of soda to Brooke. She shook her head. He nodded in approval and began walking away._

_Brooke, now two shots away from being wasted, followed Nathan. "So, that's what it takes to get your attention?" She ran her hands over her floral, flouncy top, pushing out the wrinkles. _

_He finished his beer, grabbed another one, and drank half of it quickly. He then turned to Brooke and motioned for her to follow him out the back door to the beach._

_She shook her head, remembering what happened the last time she walked out that back door with him. The night she walked to the beach with Nathan, the last time he had a party, she told him things she had never told anyone before. She let her guard down and that scared her more than anything. It scared her more than her missing parents, more than being alone, more than snakes, more than anything._

"_I don't think so." She mumbled as she turned around and walked back to the kitchen. _

_As soon as she walked back into the kitchen, three more shots of whiskey were lined up in front of her. Brooke took all of them. She threw the last shot glass at the sliding glass door at the back of the house. The shot glass bounced off the glass and crashed to the ground. _

_Peyton walked behind Brooke, put her hand on her back and whispered into her ear, "I think you need to slow down."_

_Brooke whipped her head around, her dark hair hitting Peyton across the face. Brooke pointed at her and slurred her words, "I think… you," Brooke tapped her on the nose," should leave me alone." She gave Peyton a catty smile and turned around, "I need to go to the liquor store. My friend here, thinks that I shouldn't drive myself because I need to 'slow down'." Brooke narrowed her eyes at Peyton, "So which one of you lovely people is going to take me?"_

"_I will." A voice said from around the corner. It was Nathan._

_Brooke looked at him with a crooked smile and grabbed her purse from the kitchen table along with a flask of vodka from Bevin's bag. She ran her fingers through her dark brown hair and slowly turned toward the door._

_The back door opened and Haley walked in. She saw Nathan and Brooke head for the front door. Nathan had his keys in his hand. Even though Nathan had broken Haley's heart months before, she didn't want anything bad happening to him._

_Haley walked up to Peyton, "Where do they think that are going?"_

"_To the liquor store." Lucas answered, "Brooke is having one of those nights."_

_Peyton ran after them. "Brooke, don't." Peyton said as she grabbed Brooke's arm._

_Jerking her arm away from Peyton, she said, "You never cared what I did before." Brooke opened the car door, "Oh right, that's because you were too busy making out with Lucas behind my back to notice."_

"_This isn't about that, this is about me wanting to make sure you don't do something stupid."_

"_Maybe you should worry about you doing something stupid before you worry about me, okay." Brooke slammed the door and turned to Nathan, "Liquor Store. Now. Please."_

"_Demanding but so polite," He said as he put his hand on Brooke's face and pulled her close to him._

_She turned her face away. "Not now." She said, "Just drive."_

_The theme song from The O.C played from Brooke's purse. She reached into her bag and sorted through her bag to find the phone. "Hello?" She said, slurring the word so it almost sounded like 'halo'. When the voice on the other end of Brooke's phone replied, Brooke suddenly sat up in her seat and cleared her voice. "Oh hi mom." _

_Nathan turned his head to look at her. He moved his hand toward the volume button on the stereo and Brooke smacked his hand away. "Oh? Really, okay. Well I'm glad you are coming home tonight… Oh… you are home… oh you are at the airport… okay, well… mom I can't really hear you… you are cutting out…"_

_Brooke closed her phone, "They never get damn service in the airport."_

_Nathan nodded and put his head on Brooke's bare leg. He moved his hand up her arm to her neck. He pulled her face close to his and let their lips crash into one another. After a minute of kissing, Brooke pushed him off. "Not here Nathan." She leaned over and whispered into his ear, "Go to the Cove."_

"_That's out by the airport right?"_

Brooke ran her hands over the plaid couch in Leo's new living room. She looked out the window at the darkness, "it's weird to be back here, ya know?" Brooke turned around to look at Leo in the kitchen.

Leo nodded as he turned the water faucet on and off and on and then finally off again. "Maybe we could make the most of this. You are only here for a week and honestly, if you don't want to leave the houses all week, then don't eave the house all week." He walked into the living room and sat on the couch, looking up at her. "Whatever you want to do is perfectly fine by me."

She smiled at him and put her hand on the door knob to the front door. "I think I am gonna do drive around. Do you mind if I take the car?"

"No," Leo shook his head and pressed the on button on the tv remote. "Go for it."

She took the keys and walked out the door. She got in the car and pressed her foot on the accelerator. She didn't know where she was going, but she knew where she would end up.


	4. I Can't Break Her Fall

Chapter Four

I Can't Break Her Fall

Brooke kicked her shoes off, watching them fall to the curb of the street. She let her bare feet dangle out of the car as she glanced at the oh-so-familiar house in front of her. She smiled at herself remembering the bar-b-ques in the backyard, how she had her first wreck in her own driveway when drove into the corner of the house, and how, when she was little, she would sit on her mother's bed while her mother brushed her hair.

As soon as her feet touched the wet grass Brooke ran for the front door. The front yard was long and wide, the perfect yard as a child, but now Brooke just wanted to get to the front stoop. She put her hand on the cool cement stoop and closed her eyes. She glanced up at the house and ran her hands over the brick. As she slowly turned around to sit down, she noticed a figure walking toward her.

She had always been scared of the dark and cringed at the sight of the figure nearly 20 feet away. Knowing Brooke's fear to calm her, the image said, "I figured I could find you here."

It was Nathan.

Brooke took a deep breath, "Yeah well, I guess I tend to be kinda predictable in the face of despair." As he came closer, she saw him put a smile on his face to comfort her. She crossed her arms and pulled her legs to her chest. She rested her chin on her knees, "I had no intention to come here," She said, pointing to the house. "But as soon as I got in the car…" She shrugged her shoulders, "I just knew this is where I would end up."

Nathan smiled at her and nodded; "Yeah, it's just kind of a natural thing I guess" She looked up at him, confused, "I just mean… this is where you are used to coming when you are at home…"

"This isn't home," Brooke said, quickly, "This is not my home anymore. Even when my parents were…" She looked down at the ground and then back up at Nathan, "You know…" Brooke let her feet slide out from under her arms and shook her head, as if clearing the thoughts out of her head. "But anyways," She looked up at him and gave him a half hearted smile.

"Don't you think we should talk about this… I mean, Brooke, it's been five years since it happened and we still haven't talked about it." Nathan said as he sat next to Brooke on the concrete stoop.

"We have gone this long without talking about it, why should we talk about it all of a sudden?" Brooke ran her hands over her legs and turned her head to look at him. "I just think that we should," She sighed and pushed her hands away, "just push it away and try to forget about it." She closed her eyes for a moment and then looked at him.

Nathan shook his head, "I'm sorry." He said, bringing up the one thing that Brooke had been trying to forget about since she left town. "I am so sorry for what happened. It was so irresponsible of me."

Brooke shook her head, "No, stop, its okay. Its in the past."

"Brooke, come on talk to me."

She stood up and walked into the yard. She turned around, letting the motion light hit her, "Nathan, I have tried to forget about what happened and so far in my life, it has worked, maybe you should do the same."

"How can you even say that Brooke? Your parents are dead."

"I know!" Brooke screamed at the top of her lungs. "You think I don't know that my parents are dead. You think I don't know that I am the one who killed them. You think I don't know it is my own damn fault that the reason my parents aren't on the other side of that damned door is because of me." She pushed her hands deep into her pockets, "Trust me, I know all of those things, but that is no reason for you to bring it up."

"Brooke you did not kill your parents."

"Okay then Nathan, explain to me how they died." She said, calmly, as the first set of tears dropped from her eyes.

Nathan shook his head at her and said, "Don't do this to yourself. I didn't mean for this to happen."

"Well this is what is happening! You want me to tell you how they died Nathan?" Brooke said, yelling at him, "Okay I will tell you. They died on impact. They died from excessive head trauma on impact…"

"_Yeah," Brooke said, in between kisses, "Airport. Yes. Cove." Brooke let her tongue dance in and out of Nathan's mouth as his hand lingered up the bottom of her shirt. Nathan's hand reached the bottom of her pink lace bra and Brooke mumbled into his lips, "No, wait." Brooke pushed away from Nathan and let their eyes meet. She smiled at him and then winked. "Just wait. You've been waiting this long, I think you can wait a couple minutes."_

"_Once more, just once more." Nathan said, as soon as the last word escaped from Brooke's mouth. _

_She nodded in reply and let her lips meet his once more. Brooke put her hands through Nathan's dark hair and Nathan let go of the steering wheel to pull Brooke's shirt over her head. He kissed her all along her neck and down her chest. Brooke closed her eyes and moaned in agreement. She found his belt with her hands and quickly unbuckled it. Through her eyelids Brooke could see lights flashing in front of the car. She slowly opened her eyes as Nathan placed kisses on her stomach. When she realized what was happening she screamed, "Nathan! Watch out!" _

_Nathan immediately sat up and Brooke grabbed the steering wheel, her intoxication kicking in as she turned the wheel to the left. She closed her eyes quickly and felt Nathan's SUV crash into the incoming car _

_Nathan's head slammed into the front corner of the drivers side window, shattering the glass. His knee jolted up and hit the bottom of the steering wheel. Brooke's body crashed forward and cracked the glass of the windshield. The SUV flipped once, some considered them the lucky one. Brooke and Nathan both had concussions, Nathan broke his right leg from trying to slam on the break, and Brooke fractured her collarbone as well as breaking her left arm. They were the lucky ones._

_Newspaper reports said that the Davis' car flipped seven times into a muddy ditch, killing them on impact. _


End file.
